We stayed in an incredible cabin, right on Bear Creek and enjoyed the views, the air, the sights, the sounds, the sheer beauty of our location. This place is so pristine. This place is so rich in the natural "awe" factor. This place concerned us...because, for some reason, curbside recycling is not available.

We haven't understood it for years and we were not about to contribute to a landfill if it wasn't necessary.

For our 4 night stay, we set aside a box to stow our bottles, plastic containers, plastic bags, emptied canned goods -- whatever we would normally throw into a recycle bin here at home. When the owner of the property visited us we explained our box of "garbage" and inquired as to what, how, when, if, anything would be done to change the current practices pertaining to recycling.

His story was amazing and astounding.

You see, the property we stayed at is run by a family. Ergo, that family does EVERYTHING pertaining to/for that property. This includes updates, remodeling, food preparation, repairs, waste disposal, etc.

What Mark told us was not unheard of by me...although I'd only studied the process as being instituted in other countries, not here, in OUR US of A.

Mark relayed his story to us of having to bring some waste materials to the county facility. What he witnessed was "a dinosaur looking facility about a half a football field long and not very wide." When he inquired as to what it was he was given a complete explanation.

Being that there's not curbside recycling, this facility takes care of it for everyone. What happens is the trash picked up is brought here, dumped onto a conveyor belt, and then a sort of magic happens.

This conveyor belt bounces things around and separates plastic from cans, from bottles from compost, from paper, from magazines...separating everything to where it needs to be and processing the out-put afterward.

So, what does this accomplish?

Efficient laziness!

This system doesn't care if your conscientious about recycling or not. It just gets DONE!

Just get an innovative company involved and your community doesn't have to fret about those who won't get involved in the very important, planet-preservation practice of recycling. More data/research is necessary to discover how Jefferson County, Colorado managed to obtain such an incredible service...are you up to the task?

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Kymm Beltz decided to turn her passion for environmental issues into a new career. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education and recently obtained (2010) an Associate's Degree in Environmental Science and will pursue further educational studies in this field. Once an editor, distributor and columnist for a company newsletter, Kymm is experienced and knowledgeable as a writer and enjoys the creative writing process.